CashewNut wrote:PR is a stepping stone to citizenship. Accordingly the govt wants a cross section of people : nurses, waiters, teachers, IT etc etc. They can't all be high earning bankers. Chinese, Indians, Malaysians etc all likely to take up citizenship than those who just want to be here as glorified "expats".

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Errr.

Nurses ?

Unless they are Malaysian or PRC, they have gone to near Zero, for PR/SC

CashewNut wrote:PR is a stepping stone to citizenship. Accordingly the govt wants a cross section of people : nurses, waiters, teachers, IT etc etc. They can't all be high earning bankers. Chinese, Indians, Malaysians etc all likely to take up citizenship than those who just want to be here as glorified "expats".

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Errr.

Nurses ?

Unless they are Malaysian or PRC, they have gone to near Zero, for PR/SC

In all fairness it is quite hard - A friend of mine, who is a UK citizen but has been living here for over 25 years, has applied countless times but is yet to gain PR status, despite having two Singaporean-born children and working for Government-owned Ministry of Education the past 20 years!

Some say its about their yearly quota so it may even depend on what time of the year your application was submitted.

Your UK friend has likely reached an age limit thing at this stage. If we take a cue from the Australia PR points system, anyone above 44 years is deemed irrelevant age-wise.

While I do see the government exercising its clear advantage in not revealing the criteria for Singapore PR, I do think they could adjust 2 things:

1. Make the criteria somewhat clearer, so people at least know when not to waste their time applying, or temper their expectations. At the moment, except for press clippings & this forum, very little is stated. During the golden age of PR approvals they had a self-evaluating tool on the ICA website. Perhaps they could bring something like that back.

2. Shorten or at least state the max rejection/acceptance time line. A friend of mine got his PR a few months ago after a 15 mth wait. (he's been here 7 years) For a 5-year PR, that's just too long & I fail to see the point even from the government's view - what is possibly gained by waiting this long for a decision. If they want to see the "commitment" of the applicant, just set a minimum occupancy period; don't keep qualified people in the dark for an indefinite period.

BigginHill wrote:Your UK friend has likely reached an age limit thing at this stage. If we take a cue from the Australia PR points system, anyone above 44 years is deemed irrelevant age-wise.

While I do see the government exercising its clear advantage in not revealing the criteria for Singapore PR, I do think they could adjust 2 things:

1. Make the criteria somewhat clearer, so people at least know when not to waste their time applying, or temper their expectations. At the moment, except for press clippings & this forum, very little is stated. During the golden age of PR approvals they had a self-evaluating tool on the ICA website. Perhaps they could bring something like that back.

2. Shorten or at least state the max rejection/acceptance time line. A friend of mine got his PR a few months ago after a 15 mth wait. (he's been here 7 years) For a 5-year PR, that's just too long & I fail to see the point even from the government's view - what is possibly gained by waiting this long for a decision. If they want to see the "commitment" of the applicant, just set a minimum occupancy period; don't keep qualified people in the dark for an indefinite period.

Yeah, it would, wouldn't it. Then you all would have to wait longer to see if you can game the system or not. Or if it would even be worth it to try to game the Gahment here. They are getting pretty smart.

Oh, PR isn't just for 5 years. It's only the re-entry permit that is for 5 years. You can stay here as a PR forever without a re-entry permit. You just cannot leave the country without a valid one because if you do you are telling the country you want to give up your permanent residency. I've actually gone as long as 15 months without a re-entry permit. No issue.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Yeah, it would, wouldn't it. Then you all would have to wait longer to see if you can game the system or not. Or if it would even be worth it to try to game the Gahment here. They are getting pretty smart.

Oh, PR isn't just for 5 years. It's only the re-entry permit that is for 5 years. You can stay here as a PR forever without a re-entry permit. You just cannot leave the country without a valid one because if you do you are telling the country you want to give up your permanent residency. I've actually gone as long as 15 months without a re-entry permit. No issue.

This is interesting. Why do they have this system of losing PR if REP not renewed and you leave country? It means you couldn't even pop over to JB without losing your PR. Surely there must be a better system or am i missing something here?

Sounds like you are missing something to me. It is simple. Permanent Residence means just that. Permanent. However, as long as you maintain a valid re-entry permit, you can come and go as you please for all intents and purposes (e.g., if you are gone for 4 years and come back during the last year, you probably will only get a 1 year re-entry permit on renewal, long enough to get your affairs in order as it 'probably wont be extended. Then you will either stay here and work for a period of time (several years probably) and then trying to regain a re-entry permit OR if you happened to be overseas when it expired and you waited a year or two before returning you might not get it at all and be only allowed in on a tourist visa. If you don't plan on leaving the country then you can forego the re-entry permit (not the initial one as you need that in order to enter as a PR). It's actually a pretty good system as it weeds out the PR collectors. You know, the ones that try to keep back doors open in several countries? This tends to get rid of those types in a hurry, thank goodness.

I respectfully disagree. There is no critical factor. Cash actually can be contrary to PR as many unsuccessful bankers and finance type applicants can attest to. IF there is a single factor that's important it's race because the number of PR's awarded follows the racial ratios (as at Independence I think). If there are 25,000 PR's given out then roughly 73% go to Chinese race applicant. (Note that I think the Indian quota has been reduced to rebalance the population and Chinese have an advantage at this time, "Indians", "others" and "Malays" don't as the natural replacement rate keeps the pop'n in balance but the Chinese are not so fecund as they are too busy making money).

Even the good income+education can be side-lined as part of the equation. I just had one of my employees gain his PR. He is a Malaysian SPM holder (N level equivalent) who has worked with me for the past 10 years on a Work Permit. About a year ago, I took him off the WP and put him on a Letter of Consent as his wife was a Malaysian who had gotten her PR a year or so ago. He waited about a year for the outcome but two weeks ago, he was given his PR. Race has more to do with it as a single criteria than just about everything else. And money isn't the be all and end all as the higher you go, then they start looking at your future potential in the larger sphere (global) and if they see someone who looks like they have the potential of chasing the dollars (say 20K per year increment) they are likely to be given a pass over as they figure you'll not stay and are using the PR purely for the few perks and ease of making it through the rough times, e.g., recessions without having to uproot.

Gustave22 wrote:In all fairness it is quite hard - A friend of mine, who is a UK citizen but has been living here for over 25 years, has applied countless times but is yet to gain PR status, despite having two Singaporean-born children and working for Government-owned Ministry of Education the past 20 years!

Some say its about their yearly quota so it may even depend on what time of the year your application was submitted.

I stand corrected: The 5 C's, otherwise known as Cash, Car, Credit, condo.. Don't know what the last one is but at least I got the condo.

On the topic of PR - Stringent yearly quotas lead me to believe that the Govs' first reaction is to reject it, unless you're from an LEDC maybe. Actually, I am sure if you know people working inside, that you would be able to Pay them off in order to get your PR. It's who you know, isn't it? :

I have removed your advertising link from your post. I already removed the same identical link once. Do not post real estate advertising (or any advertising) in the forums.